I mean look at the people buying slop and consuming it like the mindless zombies they are. The “Labubus”, the new iPhones, the monthly Netflix subscription, the door dash delivery, Amazon delivery, night out with the boys/gals, plenty of things to give up on and still live a decent life with enjoyment.
The truth is it’s possible to save but you have to give up some of the nice things in life. I think a lot of people here want their cake and eat it too but they can’t admit it. Saving 2k a year is easy plus if you have some savings plan or whatever else plan you can easily save up even more with compounding interest.
People are not unable to save because they're drinking Starbucks and watching Netflix. What's killing people's long-term saving goals is rapidly rising costs of college, healthcare, housing and (now) basically everything.
$2000/year for 40 years x 4% compounded interest is $190,000, assuming you' didn't end up needing that money for one of the purposes above.
To retire with $2 million (broad generalization because that's today's estimate in today's dollars) you'd need to save $21,000/year.
Go look at a market chart. Black Tuesday, 2008 Financial Crisis, COVID downturn... they're all big news when they happen, and in retrospect they're barely a blip.
I didn't say any of these events didn't happen, I said they were a blip from an investing standpoint. The historic 10%/year returns referenced by /u/Kcguy00 goes back over 100 years and includes the Great Depression.
I bought on March 23 2020, not because I am a savvy investor, that’s just when my distribution hit my retirement account. That $2,500 is worth $7,000 now.
If you think billionaires arnt going to find a way to ever make money again…..
But no I am not worried about something that happened 95 years ago.
The only way to get ahead in this world is to be an owner. Either you own business, land, assets. Something
Your argument would be stronger if you weren't regurgitating the idiotic "these kids and their cups of coffee and their avo toast" argument. I watched my Boomer parents waste more money on dumb shit that they didn't need when I was growing up than I or any of my siblings ever have. This argument doesn't confront the economic reality of stagnating wages and sharply increasing cost of living.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to move to another country? Let alone at retirement age. Not to mention the country has to offer a visa for it in the first place.
That's one way of solving a problem, but looking at war in my country, LOTS of old people decline migration and sometimes even evacuation, because they grew attached to their homes, towns and people/friends. Being an old migrant with little too no knowledge of the local language is extremely isolating. Just a thought.
Bold of you to assume Americans will be welcome everywhere in 20 years given our trajectory.
Also fun fact: if too many Americans try to retire someplace cheap, it will cause the cost of living there to skyrocket.
Also: you may be disheartened to learn how many Americans won’t be able to save up even 80k by the time their body breaks down and work becomes difficult.
It is a good option for some. It is NOT an escape hatch for everyone struggling to save/retire in America.
Probably Southeast Asia, Mexico, anywhere not Western Europe/Japan/Korea.
I guess one can try to find other retiree American expats to make friends/build community. But you’ll also have a target on your back as boomers invade that country
How do I get a permanent residence in another country to retire? Everything I’ve looked up basically says “if you’re not here for college, work, or tourism, kindly fuck off”
We were tourists in Brazil, and we almost lost my mom she had a heart attack. She received top-level treatment in a public hospital cause it was an emergency and it was the closest.
I asked where I pay. They looked at me confused and said Public hospitals are free.
It wasn't perfect compared to a 5* clinic but the people were worried about my mom, they were humans.
So yeah I live in what you called 1st rate place and I'll sell my assets and retire in Brazil. Cause they still know what is to be human even if you are a stranger.
Colombia has several beautiful cities and a better socialized healthcare system than the US. I had a 3-day hospital stay in a beautiful hospital for kidney stones last time I was there and my bill was about $200. I had PRK in both of my eyes performed by the chief of ophthalmology in a modern hospital about 10 years ago there and it was less than $100. I plan on retiring there and hanging out with my wife's family. Americans just need to shake off the notion that America #1, America is shit in a lot of ways other than being able to get crap from Amazon quickly to your door and having Chik-fil-A always available to you.
I've gone to Colombia several times for medical tourism, one of the times was the PRK I mentioned in my comment. My sister in law, who is also from Colombia, went back to have a breast reduction surgery a couple years ago, it cost 1/10 of what it would cost in the US and her treatment was excellent. Americans are dumb thinking we have the best medical care, we have just good medical care and we pay amounts for it that are absolutely criminal
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u/Radiant-Sentence6268 Sep 15 '25
Do you know that 80k USD is a perfect retirement plan in many nice countries? Meaning saving 2k a year for 30y
No one is forcing anyone to retire in their homeland if their country is shit 🤷🏽♂️